


Two Cards Short of a Full Deck

by orphan_account



Series: Plot Bunny no Jutsu [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Haruno Sakura, But hopefully not too slow, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Mental Link, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sharing a Body, Slow Build, Sort Of, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Therapy, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Work In Progress, eventually, it's complicated - Freeform, sai and sakura messing with the timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-04-07 19:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14088453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Due to a chain of ridiculous events, a child gets two assassins as mental roommates.Team 7's going to be even more of a nightmare when it's formed. (Time-Travel AU)(Two Heads are Better Than One rewrite, also on ff.net)





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: OKAY SO, I pasted the wrong file (don't even ask how I managed that, I haven't slept for like, hours). THIS is the rewrite. Holy shit.

Sakura was two years old, nearly three, when she first met  _them._

She was in a dark, dark space and her mama and papa were missing. Sakura thought about screaming, about crying, because she was two years old and the dark scared her. That was when a boy appeared behind her. He was pale, like the pretty paper her papa would draw on, and his eyes were _black_ like the darkness but they’re  _warm_ , like her woolen blankets. There was a girl with pretty pink hair behind him, like candy, having come out from the darkness, and she smiled at Sakura. The girl looked like her papa – the girl looked like  _her_.

The wrongness went away. Sakura reached up towards the boy with pretty skin. Obligingly, he picked her up and held her close. He was much shorter than Sakura’s papa; Sakura could see the  _world_ from her papa’s shoulders. She could only see the top of the boy’s head from her perch. Beside them, the girl with pink hair did a funny thing with her nose, making it crinkle, and Sakura saw the boy smile at her. “Well, it looks like she likes me more, Ugly.”

It was obvious that ‘ugly’ – the mean word that mama said to  _never_ use for a person – in this case was meant for the girl with pretty hair, so Sakura shouted, “ _No_! She’s pretty! Like  _candy_!” More petulantly, she said, “You’re mean and I  _don’t_ like you more!”

The boy hummed, seemingly thoughtful. “I’m sorry,” he said, not sounding very sorry at all. “Would ‘Lovely’ be a better name for your nee-chan, then?”

“My nee-chan?” Sakura asked. She didn’t have a nee-chan… did she?

“Because I’m your  _secret_ nee-chan,” the girl with candy hair said. “I’m your secret nee-chan and mama and papa don’t know it, but I’m here to keep you safe. I can read your mind, like a superhero.”

“Or a ninja,” Sakura added.

The girl nodded, “Or a ninja.”

Sakura stared at the pretty girl for a long, long moment. She certainly looked like she was Sakura’s nee-chan; she had pink hair and green eyes and fair skin, too. And she had a pretty diamond on her forehead—

“Your forehead’s just like mine!” There was awe in every word she said. She had a secret nee-chan and she looked just like her! That was wonderful!

“It is,” her nee-chan said, smiling, “And he’s going to be your new nii-chan.” Her nee-chan was looking at the paper-pale boy holding her. Sakura wanted to pout at him, but she stopped when she saw the boy smile at her. He had a pretty smile, like a cat or a fox. “I suppose he  _can_ be my nii-chan.”

“I’m honored, Sakura-chan,” the boy, her new nii-chan, said. He said this so  _sincerely_ that it made Sakura smile up at him even wider. Bouncing a bit, Sakura grabbed his cheeks, and his skin was so  _soft_ that it was simply wonderful. “Can you read my mind, too, nii-chan?”

Her new nii-chan nodded.

“Wow,” Sakura said, because what else was there to say? She had a mind-reading nii-chan and nee-chan! “Do other kids have a nee-chan and nii-chan like you, too?”

Her nee-chan shook her head. “No, Sakura-chan. Only you do.”

“Why?” she asked, honestly curious.

This time, both her nii-chan and nee-chan smiled, and Sakura was too young to realize how sad their smiles had been. “Because you’re special,” they said, and their hug felt like coming  _home_.

* * *

 

Her nee-chan’s name was Saeko, her nii-chan’s name was Sai.

Saeko-nee told her stories of a girl and her friends. Her stories were all about the same girl – a kunoichi, like her mama, but the girl in the story had been weak and unprepared when she first started and couldn’t keep up with the demands of her job – and they had lessons like ‘valuing your friends’. Sakura’s favorite part was when the girl  _realized_ how weak she was, but instead of giving up, she decided to pick up her weight until she became the best frontline medic – which is a doctor who  _fights_ , according to Saeko-nee.

When Sakura told Saeko-nee that she wanted to be like the girl in the story –  _strong_ – Saeko-nee said, “Sure, as long as you learn from her mistakes.”

Sai-nii drew animals for her, from cats to elephants and birds and dogs, and he made them rise from the paper and come to life. Sai-nii told her stories, too, but they were about a boy – a shinobi – who was taught to  _hurt_ people. The boy grew up knowing nothing but how to hurt others, until he discovered the wonders of friendship. It was a sad story, but it was also a little funny, and Saeko-nee said she thought so, too—especially when the boy got hit for being too blunt. Sai-nii just sighed.

But he smiled, close-eyed, and promised to teach Sakura how to draw when she asked if he would teach her.

Sakura learned to listen to her siblings while she was awake even though they didn’t talk to her a lot when she was. They said that they didn’t want to distract her, but Saeko-nee would scold her when Sakura threw tantrums while Sai-nii just kept quiet, but it was the sort of quiet where Sakura could feel the  _disappointment_ coming off in waves, like how her papa does it. It wasn’t always easy to understand why they scolded her, but soon Sakura learned that they did it because they loved her. And she loved them.

She grew up to be a quiet girl, effectively shattering her mama’s fears of having a rowdy child but also feeding her fears about having a friendless, unhappy daughter. Sakura wanted to tell her mama that she wasn’t friendless; she had her nee-chan and nii-chan! But they told her that she couldn’t let mama know about them. If she did, they would have to go away, because they couldn’t be her  _secret_ siblings if she told mama about them.

“But she has a point,” Saeko-nee said one night. “So please try?”

* * *

 

When Sakura was four, her mama took her along to the park in the hopes that she’d make friends and Sakura saw her chance to make her nee-chan and her mama proud. Mebuki set her down by the swings and cheerfully told her that she would be ‘around’ before vanishing in a puff of smoke, drawing the gazes of other civilian parents and their children to the spot where Mebuki had been. Sai-nii made an offhand comment about ‘unexpectedness’ and ‘civilian outfits giving a civilian impression’.

Noting Sakura’s confusion, Saeko-nee sighed and explained how the civilians thought her mama was a civilian, too.  _She is, in essence, but she was a shinobi once._

If the circumstances were different, Sakura might have ducked her head the moment the other children spotted her. But the circumstances  _weren’t_ different and Sai-nii and Saeko-nee have spent what seemed like forever for Sakura, telling her story of boys and girls and the power of friendships. So with confidence in her chest and supportive siblings in the back of her head, Sakura stood from the swing and approached a boy and girl playing in the sandbox.

“Hi!” she chirped, wincing just a little with the volume of her voice. “Can I play with you?”

The boy – black hair, freckled face, and brown eyes – looked at the girl with him. When she nodded, the boy looked back at Sakura and said, “Sure!” and then he stuck out his hand, “My name’s Taki!”

 _Take it_ , Sai-nii’s voice flitted through for a second before disappearing again. Sakura did as she was told and placed her hand in his, “I’m Sakura. Can I call you Taki-nii?” The boy looked a bit surprised, but he nodded in the end.

“And I’m Mitsuha!” the girl said from beside Taki-nii. “You can call me Mitsuha-nee if you like! We’re going to play tag now though, will you be okay with that?”

As Mitsuha-nee stood, Sakura noticed how much taller the girl was and how much shorter she was than both of them.  _She thinks you can’t keep up_ , Sai-nii whispered in a rare mischievous tone. For a moment, Sakura felt fear, especially when it felt like Sai-nii was telling her to  _prove them wrong_. She  _felt_ Saeko-nee place an invisible hand on her shoulder and so she pushed on. She nodded and the two older children smiled. She smiled back.

And then her smile dropped, just an inch, when she was ‘it’.

Ten minutes into the game, Sakura was fuming and huffing but silently hoping the other two wouldn’t take notice. She couldn’t catch them – they were  _faster_ than her – but she also didn’t want to complain. What if they wouldn’t play with her anymore? So she went on, running around and coming so close to snatching Mitsuha-nee’s sleeve—

When a new voice asked, “That looks fun! Can I join?”

They all stopped at the same time, Sakura nearly slamming her face on Mitsuha-nee’s back.

Standing a few feet away was a pretty blonde girl with seafoam eyes, watching them with a wide-eyed expression. Sakura immediately  _beamed_ at the new girl by the moment she saw how the new girl was almost as small as her – still slightly taller, but not by much. That meant they were the same age!

 _Or that she’s really short,_ Sai-nii said amusedly and Sakura thought about batting his smug face away.

“Sure,” Taki-nii said, “But this is  _tag_ and you’re  _it_ , okay?”

Predictably, the new girl pouted, but for reasons completely different, “I’m not an  _it_ – my name is Ino!”

Sakura giggled, “They mean that you’ll be catching us, Ino-chan.” At her explanation, the new girl’s – Ino’s – puffed up cheek deflated and pink dusted her cheeks, ever so slightly.

“Oh.” She grinned.

“I’m Mitsuha, and this is Taki, we’re older than you so you gotta call us ‘nee-san’ and ‘nii-san’,” Mitsuha-nee said with all the finality of a five-year-old, “and that’s Sakura,” Mitsuha-nee added from somewhere behind Sakura. “Are you ready to catch us now, Ino-chan?”

Sakura, still looking at Ino, watched as she nodded determinedly. She looked back and saw the smile on Mitsuha-nee’s face, “Okay, on the count of three – one, two, three, go!”

They sprinted off into different directions.

That was how Mebuki found Sakura that day, running around and chasing a girl her age while making roaring noises. When Sakura spotted her mama by the tree, she grinned and waved, and Saeko-nee hummed in approval in the back of her mind.

* * *

 

Sakura visited the park more often to play with Ino, Taki-nii, and Mitsuha-nee. Her mama and her papa took turns watching her, even though Sakura had her siblings to watch her, but she supposed it was alright that they were there. The routine continued on for three weeks, until one day, Taki-nii and Mitsuha-nee arrived really, really late and said that they wouldn’t be allowed to play anymore. Apparently, they were going to study in the ninja academy next year and their respective parents wanted them to prepare because they were civilian kids.

“So what if you are?” Sakura asked.

Mitsuha-nee looked thoughtful, “Well, it means that we have a disadvantage. There are clan kids, you know that, right?” Sakura nodded and silently asked her siblings what  _clan kids_ were.

 _Clan kids are children who belong in a special family with special ninja skills_ was Saeko-nee’s clipped explanation.

“Why would you have a disa—disav...”

“Disadvantage,” Mitsuha-nee giggled, Sakura pouted, “And think of it like this: the teacher gave you a picture to colour and you brought a pack of crayons with twelve colours. But some parts of the picture needed different colours, colours that you don’t have,” Mitsuha-nee paused to see if Sakura was still listening, which she was, “And then you looked around to see if your classmates were having trouble colouring that item, too, only to find that some of your classmates have sixteen coloured crayons and didn’t have the trouble that you had.”

“Oh, that’s not fair.”

“It isn’t,” Taki-nii said for the first time. “That’s why Mitsuha and I have to train early; we don’t want to have only twelve crayons while the others have sixteen.”

“You understand, don’t you?” Sakura nodded and Mitsuha beamed, “I knew you were smart.”

When Ino arrived, Mitsuha-nee and Taki-nii told her the same thing, but they shortened their words, not that Sakura particularly cared why.  _They’re not going to play with us anymore_ , Sakura thought sadly,  _will you leave someday, too?_

She didn’t know if she was asking her nee-chan or her nii-chan, but they both replied.  _We won’t leave_ , Saeko-nee said.

 _We can’t even if we tried_ , Sai-nii added, only to receive a mental kick from Saeko-nee, and Sakura felt a little bit better.

* * *

 

She felt better, but it wasn’t  _enough._

“I don’t want to have only twelve crayons either,” Sakura stated that night while Sai-nii was teaching her how to draw. Saeko-nee, who had been watching from across the expanse of darkness, lifted her head at that moment and met Sakura’s eyes. “I want to have, like, twenty-four crayons.”

“Give the metaphor a rest,” she said as she stood. “Sai, remember what we talked about?”

Sai-nii stopped guiding Sakura’s hand. Curious, Sakura turned to look at her brother. He didn’t look at her like he usually did when he felt Sakura watching. Instead, he was staring at Saeko-nee, lips thinned and eyes narrowed. There was a sudden  _pressing_ feeling that made Sakura want to puke.

Saeko-nee’s voice was frigid when she said, “She’s  _four_ , Sai.”

“Exactly,  _Ugly_ , you were a crybaby at  _four._ ” and  _oh_ , Sakura knew that would result in a lot of fighting that made her head hurt, so she shouted shrilly, “Explaaaaiiiin! What are you two talking about?!”

Simultaneously, her siblings winced. Sakura knew that her voice made  _their_ head hurt when it was loud, and usually she would feel bad about causing them pain, but Sai-nii and Saeko-nee were about to start fighting and Sakura couldn’t have that. Her day had already been pretty bad; she didn’t want to have to listen to her siblings fight while she could see them. They didn’t know it – or maybe they did, they just haven’t said anything – but Sakura could hear them when they fought while she was awake. Their arguments had only started recently and Sakura didn’t know what they were all about, and neither her brother nor her sister would tell her when she asked.

“Remember who we are,” Saeko-nee finally said, still not looking at Sakura. In turn, Sakura stared at her brother, hoping he would give something away from his expression. Sai-nii only stared down at his pale feet, eyes eerily blank, and finally, after a long while, Saeko-nee added in a sadder voice, “Remember what we’re here to do.”

Sai-nii breathed out. “Alright, fine.”

Once Sai-nii said this Saeko-nee smiled so brilliantly that it was almost as if she and Sai-nii weren’t fighting just a moment ago. Saeko-nee knelt in front of Sakura – she was still shorter than them, even after two years, and Sakura thought they were growing up inside her head, too – and took her hand in hers.

“Sakura-chan, do you remember why you’re the only one with siblings like us?” Saeko-nee asked with a kind and gentle voice. Sai-nii moved to sit beside her – Sakura could see him out of the corner of her eye.

“Because I’m special,” she repeated.

“Have we told you  _why_ you’re special?” Sai-nii asked, voice evenly measured, and it made Sakura wonder if her brother was  _scared_ of something. Sakura did the same thing to her voice when she was scared. Silently, Sakura shook her head.

“Now that you’re older, we’re going to tell you  _a_ truth. It’s one of many, many truths and you have to keep it a secret from mama and papa, okay?” Saeko-nee was  _pleading_ , Sakura knew, and the way she did it made her nervous. It was the same tone of voice her mama used when she was about to tell Sakura something disappointing, like how she couldn’t go out to play because she was sick or it was raining.

Sakura, at four years old, knew at that moment that her siblings were about to tell her something important.

“Your brother and I are old, Sakura-chan. We’re much, much older than we look. Do you remember my stories about the weak kunoichi who became strong to protect her precious people?” She nodded slowly. Saeko-nee’s hold on her hand tightened slightly, “That’s me, Sakura-chan. I’m the weak kunoichi. Do you remember how that story ends?”

Sakura blinked, startled by the revelation that the kunoichi in her sister’s stories was her sister herself, “I... no, I don’t,” belatedly, she added, “You never told me. The last thing you said is that the kunoichi went off to war to fight for and save her precious people,” with a touch of fear, she said, “You never told me whether she went back home to Fish Cake Country.”

Fish Cake Country was the fictional country the kunoichi in the story comes from, but if the kunoichi was real…

“Fish Cake Country isn’t a real place, Sakura-chan, focus,” Sai-nii interrupted.  _Right_ —mind-reading. “But the kunoichi is real – it’s Saeko.”

Her sister was the kunoichi in her story. Her sister has gone off to  _war_. Sakura has seen the faraway look her mama sometimes gets when Sakura asks about her days of active duty. Her papa had said that her mother has gone off to war, long before Sakura was even born. Her papa said that war was awful and it’s never won without the cost of something great.

“Did she win? The kunoichi, I mean.”

Saeko-nee smiled bitterly, “Her side didn’t win, Sakura-chan. They fought – the kunoichi and her brothers, together again – against their common enemy, an evil moon goddess and her greatest weapon: the moon,” Sakura’s face must have done something because Sai-nii huffed out what might have been a laugh, and Saeko-nee said, “I know, the moon sounds ridiculous. But it’s what happened.”

“The moon goddess and her evil moon cast an illusion over the whole world. The people who saw the illusion felt  _happy_ but they didn’t notice that none of that was real, and they didn’t notice their chakra being fed on.”

Sakura was four and she knew what chakra was, so all she did was nod to show she understood so far.

“Only four people were left uncaught, Sakura-chan. That’s me,” Saeko-nee jerks a thumb towards her own self and then to their brother, “There was Sai, the kunoichi’s fox-brother, along with the one-eyed demon teacher.”

* * *

 

Sakura was quieter the next morning. She didn’t even greet her mama and papa ‘good morning’. She sat there, by the kitchen table, eyeing her empty plate and listening to the sound of eggs frying on the pan, accompanied by her papa’s humming. Saeko-nee and Sai-nii were silent in her head, in such a way that they have never been for as long as Sakura has had them.

“Sakura-chan, is there something the matter?” her mama finally asked.

Sakura turned to look at her mama, at her messy pale blonde hair and sky blue eyes, at her fair skin marred by scars on the oddest places. She let her gaze linger on her mama’s right leg, eyeing the large gash that went from the middle of her mama’s thigh and an inch above her ankle. The medics could only close her wound and lessened as much of the scarring as they could, but it was too late to save the nerves of her leg. It had been infected. Her mama walked awkwardly now, like she wasn’t wholly certain if her feet were moving along.

 _We’re here to save the world,_  Saeko-nee had said, eyes blazing and words determined.

 _We didn’t_ choose  _you_ , Sai-nii’s voice echoed in contrast.  _Something went wrong and I’m not even supposed to be here._

You’re _not supposed to be here_ , Saeko-nee added.  _But you are. So we have to_ ask, Saeko-nee had said, as if her words left Sakura with much of a choice,  _we have to ask you to help us save the world._

 _How?_ Sakura asked.

 _You have to_ listen  _to us and_ do as we say.

Sakura ducked her head and, with a doubtful heart, she murmured, “I want to be a shinobi.”

Clearly surprised, her papa dropped a plate.


	2. The Friend Collection Pt. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lil' Sakura is a GeniusTM with zero socialization skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow okay I stared at the last ch2 so much until I Hated It, so this is the last rewrite this thing is getting, is2g (this story is heckin cursed, i've rewritten this more times than any other story I've ever had)

“What brought this on, dear?” her mama asked gently, fear and doubt warring within her eyes. In another world wherein Sakura’s bravery had been the size of her four-year-old fist, she would have been disheartened to see the lack of trust, even if it was justifiable by the fact that she was four years old and had just declared that she wanted to pursue the life of a killer. But Sakura has had secret siblings in her head for two years, nearly three, and her bravery was spurred on by the desire to be like the kunoichi in her sister’s stories—to _be_ like her sister.

Although she wasn’t completely disagreeing with her mama’s doubt. She doubted herself, too.

Her declaration wasn’t hers, not wholly, and was mostly brought on by her sister’s sad eyes and the frightening bits and pieces of knowledge that implied the world’s end. Sakura didn’t have to agree to help her siblings, her brother made that very clear, and she was free to back away if she felt frightened. She was, to an extent, but no one else was there to help her siblings save the world. What could they do by themselves when they were stuck in a body controlled by a little girl? What could they do if that little girl was unwilling to stand and fight for the world? They wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Luckily, Sakura hated the thought of the world ending due to some vengeful moon lady with enormous familial and mental issues, hated the thought of her parents dying, and had agreed.

Staring up into her mama’s green eyes, Sakura wondered why her siblings were keeping a respectful distance, and realized that it was because this was _her_ mama. Her siblings were her siblings, but her mama wasn’t theirs, and neither was her papa. Sakura’s parents were the only ones she could truly have for herself now, the one line her sister and brother wouldn’t dare to cross. It was comforting, knowing that, so Sakura gathered up all the things her sister said in clipped tones and mashed them together in one, big, hopefully believable _reason_.

* * *

 “I’m so proud of you,” Saeko-nee said that night, sitting on the ‘floor’ of the dark expanse that represented Sakura’s mind. She was smiling, brightly so, and Sakura relished in the feeling of the pride radiating off of her sister. Her brother’s smile was much more muted, but his approval was there, hidden upon layers of something else that Sakura couldn’t quite identify.  

Still, once the moment of self-satisfaction passed, Sakura couldn’t help but ask, “Does this mean that I have to stop playing with Ino?” _Like how our older friends stopped playing with us_ , Sakura noted dully. Ino was Sakura’s only friend at four years old, the longest friend she had ever had aside her siblings, and Sakura didn’t really want to let her go. _But I will_ , Sakura thought resolutely, _if it meant saving the world._

To be honest, Sakura had a set of expectations then and there on the way her life would go on. Her sister told her, in no uncertain terms, that to save the world, Sakura needed strength. Would she have to emulate Taki-nii and Mitsuha-nee and stop playing with Ino entirely, dedicating her life to training? Sakura didn’t have a fuller grasp on what _training_ really meant aside from the implications from her older friends and from the tales of her brother and sister. She knew training vaguely meant learning how to do cool things, like walking on the walls and on the water, or training how to raise the earth with a single punch. Sakura was smart, smarter than almost all of the children her age, and she knew that much power wouldn’t come without years of _training_. That amount of power took time.

She knew that was why Saeko-nee had frowned at her brother the night before, why they nearly descended into a full-on fight, because Saeko-nee wanted Sakura to do— _something_ , at least, to help save the world while Sai-nii strangely didn’t. At least, he didn’t want her to be doing anything _yet._ Saeko-nee wanted to use all time they had while Sai-nii wanted to hold off on whatever they were planning to make her do, losing time in the process. Sakura still didn’t understand that portion of their argument and perhaps she never would. Maybe it was one of those _older-sibling-things._

To her pleasant surprise, however, Saeko-nee spluttered from her seat and gawked at the four-year-old. “What? No!” she exclaimed, sounding genuinely confused, “Why would you stop playing with Ino? The two of you are friends and I’m pretty sure you’re both too young to be fighting over boys.”

Sakura blinked, “Why would we be fighting over Shikamaru?” remembering the other half of the duo Ino introduced her to a few days ago, Sakura added, “Or Choji?”

Saeko-nee opened her mouth, looking ready to explain, and then shut it again with an audible click. Sakura watched with fascination as Saeko-nee exchanged a _look_ with her brother and then seemed to reconstruct her own facial expressions, ending up with a cheery-looking face that somehow managed to seem stern at the same time, reminding Sakura heavily of her mama when she was having a row with her papa. Those things never ended well, and though they were funny most of the time, Sakura still preferred if neither her mama nor her papa were shouting at one another.

Sai-nii hummed from his spot, looking far too pleased with his own self and earning a jab to his side for his trouble.

The little knot barring Sakura’s throat eased a little. This was normal behavior—this was her siblings’ normal behavior. It almost seemed as if nothing changed at all, as if her sister hadn’t asked her last night to help stop a war that wasn’t even in her reach yet, as if her brother hadn’t told her that she wasn’t supposed to exist on a conscious level. But something _had_ to be changing – or will change – because Saeko-nee looked so happy with herself, too, despite the annoyed creases in her eyebrow. Sakura had learned that her sister was rarely happy with herself, even if she did smile a lot and told bad jokes that made Sakura smile to herself.

Finally, her older siblings stopped jabbing each other, and Sai-nii turned to Sakura with a serious look on his pale face. “Things will change,” he began, obviously reading Sakura’s thought process using that strange ability that he shared with Saeko-nee, but not with Sakura. Quietly, her brother added, “But your sister and I discussed this, Sakura-chan, and we’re not going to take away your childhood from you.”

In an increasingly familiar gesture, her siblings took hold of each of her hands, and Sakura couldn’t help but wonder why her brother’s hand felt cold while her sister’s hand felt exceedingly warm. Maybe, just maybe, if they were all mixed together, they’d form the ideal temperature for hand-holding. Still, Sakura didn’t pull away, even if her fingers numbed or her skin blistered. These feelings were just _feelings_ ; Sakura’s hands were alright in the real world, perhaps clenched tight around her blanket, but she was alright nonetheless. Saeko-nee stared into Sakura’s eyes with her identical pair, whispering, “You’re such a good girl, Sakura-chan, for even agreeing to help us. Thank you.”

Shaking her head exactly once, Saeko-nee added in a much cheerier tone, “Sai’s correct; we’re not going to make you stop playing with Ino. That’s just wrong and unfair, but you’re also right, things will be changing from here on out. But not in the way you’re thinking, Sakura-chan. Not yet, at least—if we can help it, we’ll wait another year, but tomorrow,” Saeko-nee let go of her hand and stood up, smiling down at Sakura, “Sai and I will send you _friend-hunting_.”

* * *

 Sakura almost laughed aloud when she woke up, feeling much lighter than she did before. _Friend-hunting_ , her sister had said with a smile. They weren’t expecting Sakura to save the world on her own—which was why they were going to make her go out and _socialize_ with other people, making friends who would grow up to be powerful and useful in the grand scheme of saving the world. Sakura had to nudge them along the right way, too, and make sure they didn’t stray from the path and end up like Saeko-nee’s Demon-Eyed Brother – Sai-nii called him _Duckhair_ for some odd reason – from her stories about herself.

Sakura really did feel bad for that character; he made a whole ton of bad choices.

If her parents noticed the bouncy attitude or her eagerness to go to the park – even though it was still morning and still far from the unspoken official meeting time Ino and Sakura had – they said nothing, content to watch their daughter act like the bubbly girl she was supposed to be at four years old. Mebuki and Kizashi had gotten used to having a moody little girl, with perfunctory politeness and almost eerie silence three-fourths of the time and a puppy’s energy and a voice shriller than a siren for the other fourth of the time.

They were simply glad to see that their daughter was no longer the quiet, solemn girl from yesterday’s breakfast, and they were all too eager to dismiss their daughter’s declaration and hope that Sakura would grow out of it. Kizashi really didn’t like the idea of Sakura slitting people’s throats, even if he did know there was a possibility of his daughter doing other things like mission filing if she became a shinobi.

Mebuki accompanied Sakura to the park today, Kizashi having to attend some meeting with some merchants. But really, it was only a bunch of married men gossiping like teenagers about their wives and – for those who had them – children. Mebuki knew that Kizashi had been talking about how his daughter was becoming quite an artist, just like him. Unlike her husband, she took a little cheer in knowing that her daughter may follow her footsteps one day and have teammates – _friends –_ who’ll hopefully drag the moodiness out of her.

“I’ll be here, alright?” Sakura nodded at her mama, waving her hand goodbye even as her mama simply turned and walked away to sit down on the bench underneath the shade.

The park wasn’t as crowded as it usually was during the afternoons and her sister said something about families doing house-cleaning during the hour as a form of family bonding. That never happened in Sakura’s home, to be honest; her mama could simply form seals with her hands and out puffed two identical copies of her to help her do the housework.

There were a few children around, though, and Sakura was eager to get started on her very own mini-mission: making friends. Her brother _debriefed_ her beforehand. Making friends was easy; Sakura just had to be herself. Sakura was a little girl inclined to honesty and imitating her brother’s close-lipped smiles, so she started there. She didn’t know where she got it from, but she knew that smiling usually endeared people to others, and honesty to accompany it was never bad. In all her enthusiasm, Sakura couldn’t find it in herself to remember that it was Sai-nii who told her that, and that Sai-nii had _read it from a book_ and that Saeko-nee had mentioned many times before how her brother was as good at socializing as a rock.

The first group Sakura introduced herself to – “Hi, I’m Sakura. Do you want to be my friend?” – had taken one look at her face and bluntly stated, “You have a wide forehead.”

Oblivious, thinking that they had gone into a game of stating the obvious, Sakura cheerfully replied, “And you sound like a girl.”

She was almost hit with a punch, almost, if those boys’ respective parents hadn’t come along and carted them off while scolding them about hitting girls, leaving Sakura staring dumbfounded at their backs. Strangely, Saeko-nee was merely laughing in her head, while her brother seemed as shocked as Sakura was. Though, if Sakura knew why he seemed so surprised, she would have batted at his face with her tiny hands.

The second group of children – and the only group of children remaining at that moment – reacted similarly to the first group’s reaction to Sakura’s presence. The group of children – a trio of girls clearly led by the one with ridiculously asymmetrical purple hair – took one look at Sakura’s face and the redhead of the group cackled with mild glee before she even said anything. “Your hair is _pink_!” The redhead laughed, though Sakura couldn’t see what was so funny.

Unsure, blinking once, she nodded, “Your hair is red.”

The kids paused for a moment before breaking into peals of laughter once again, so much that the girl with really curly orange hair doubled over and fell to the ground. Sakura felt her eye twitch and she eventually decided that they weren't worth the effort. Saeko-nee was still laughing herself silly in their shared head. At least Sakura knew her sister wasn't laughing because of the jab at their hair color. Saeko-nee had pink hair, too, after all, but she was still laughing and Sakura couldn’t figure out why.

Sighing, Sakura started her trek back to the largest tree in the middle of the park, right where the swings were located. She had to admit; making friends wasn't as easy as her brother made it sound. Sakura couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong; she did all those things and had managed to befriend two children older than her, and she's sure Ino said something about liking how honest Sakura was, but these kids seemed to hate her for both of those things.

 _Sakura-chan,_ her sister wheezed, _your brother was terrible at making friends._

 _What?_ Then why did Sai-nii sound so self-assured with his own advice? Prodding at her brother, Sakura received her answer a moment later, _I read it from a book. It really is useful advice, though._

Saeko-nee snorted. _Not when it's you who's following it_ , then, a little mournfully, _of all the things she could have learned from you, it was how to be as awkward as you are._

 _I'm awkward?_ She thought she was being _normal._  Isn't this how normal children were supposed to act?

 _You're not normal, Sakura-chan, you're special. Don't listen to what your sister says; your awkwardness is endearing and kids these age are stupid, anyway._ As if to prove her brother’s point, the purple-haired girl from before suddenly shoved her redheaded friend over, causing the girl with red hair to scream and clutch at her knee. Instead of saying sorry, the purple-haired girl merely huffed and turned her face away from the redhead, and the orange-haired girl of the group followed the purple-haired girl like a puppy when she walked away. Sakura strangely felt a lot better after seeing that.

But still, special or not, how was she supposed to gain friends if the other children found her strange? Why didn't Mitsuha-nee and Taki-nii turn her away that first day? What did she do right that day that she wasn't doing correctly now? Her siblings helped her back then—oh. _Can't you tell me what to say and do?_

There was a thoughtful silence before her sister replied, _no, Sakura-chan, we can't tell you what to do all of the time. We helped you back then because it was your first time making friends with anyone, but now you're on your own._

 _Make us proud_ , her brother added cheerfully.

* * *

 Day two of friend-hunting. Friend Count: 1. And if Ino didn't count because she was Sakura’s friend beforehand, the Friend Count would be at 0. Shikamaru and Choji didn’t count either. Sakura’s met them, like, once and they didn't even talk or play together. The duo had merely been passing by.

Sakura scribbled in her notepad angrily, fluffing up the tail of the cat she was drawing with each angry stroke of the pencil. Again, Sakura was in the park an hour earlier than Ino. The park was still filled with the same children from yesterday, and while she resolutely ignored the group of girls who laughed at her hair, _they_ didn’t ignore her. They were very loudly talking about her, commenting on her forehead, but not loud enough for her papa to hear from where he was talking with some friend of his that he ran into.

 _Can the Choujuu Giga technique work if I used a pencil?_ Apparently, that was what the making-drawings-move-out-of-paper technique was actually called, but Choujuu Giga was honestly shorter to say, so Sakura let the name be even if it did remind her of Choji.

 _No, unless the lead of your pencil is infused with chakra, but I don't think it can work that way_ , her brother replied. Disappointed, Sakura kept on scribbling onto her sparkly pink notepad. Perhaps sensing her mood, Sai-nii added, _I’ll teach you how to make chakra-infused ink later and how to do the technique._

 _Please use it wisely, Sakura-chan_ , her sister piped in, frowning, _no drawing lions to maul the kids you don't like._ Sakura huffed at her sister. She wouldn't do something like that. They really should have more faith in her.

_Sakura, your first impulse was to punch the girl in the face. You don't even know how to make a proper fist._

Yes, well, the girl would have deserved it, honestly. And if she didn't shut up about Sakura’s forehead soon, she was going to walk over there and smack her with the notepad.

* * *

 Sakura smacked the girl – apparently named Ami – with her notepad and relished at the offended squawk, even as she was dragged away by her papa from the park. Her only regret was that she didn't get to play with Ino.

* * *

 Sighing dramatically, Sakura trudged through the streets of Konoha with her papa. It was day three of the friend-hunting mission and she still made zero new friends. They walked past the park and Sakura stubbornly looked away from the area, hearing Ami’s distinctive shrill voice yelling for one of her friends. Due to the stunt she pulled yesterday, Sakura wasn’t allowed to play in the park for a week, which meant no playing with Ino for a week. Sakura didn’t even get to tell her friend that she wouldn't be there. Hopefully Ino wouldn't be too mad at Sakura for disappearing for so long.

 _This is what you get_ , her sister had said when her papa said as much, _zero impulse-control, honestly—Sai, stop smiling, this isn't a good thing._

 _She has a spine, Hag_ , was her brother’s retort.

Her sister didn't admit it, but Sakura could feel the pride coming off in waves. So while she did hate the consequences of her actions, she wouldn't have done anything differently. She suspected her sister had a personal vendetta against Ami, anyway, because there had been a moment of self-satisfaction that wasn't hers.

Her papa was going to bring her to their shop in Konoha, a branch of the Haruno clan textile shops. While her papa did run away from the rest of the Haruno clan because he wanted to become an artist instead of the head of a merchant clan mainly situated in the Land of Iron, the defiance didn't last long, especially after Sakura was born and an artist's pay wasn't enough to support the only Haruno family in Konoha. So he asked permission to open a branch of their main business in Konoha and her grandfather, despite all his misgivings and issues with his son, allowed him to do so. Thus today was basically a ‘bring your child to work’ day for her papa.

Knowing how much his daughter hated the mathematics involved in his job – despite the fact that she was strangely great at it, for a four-year-old –  Kizashi let Sakura stay in the break room in the back of the shop with a bottle of ink and watercolors, brushes, and empty scrolls and other thick papers, given that she wouldn't get paint everywhere. Sakura was exceptional at art; her papa proudly displayed her scroll paintings around the shop, paintings of cats and birds and big fluffy dogs. She had a preference for drawing animals. He called her an art prodigy. 

Being a prodigy meant nothing if she had no inspiration, though, and as it was now, she really didn't have any. Sakura glared at the blank pieces of paper as if it personally offended her. She didn't feel like drawing cats. She must have drawn all of the cats in Konoha already and she wanted to draw something else, but _no_ , she just had to have _no idea_ whatsoever on what to draw. Why was her imagination failing her _now_? _Why_?

 _You're so dramatic_ , Saeko-nee laughed, to which Sakura responded with an exaggerated sigh. She shoved the scroll in front of her away to thump her head lightly on the table, groaning, “This is it, my career as an artist is _over_ ,” she turned her head to rest her cheek on the table and mournfully said, “I guess I’ll just stick to boring mathematics and become a merchant.”

Somewhere in the Land of Iron, the head of the prominent Haruno Merchant Clan sneezed.

 _You'll become a kunoichi_ , her sister reminded, amused, _but yes, if you don't make the cut, you'll be installed as clan head when you're grouchy and old with a good idea on taxes and bills._

Briefly, Sakura saw a glimpse of herself buried in piles and piles of papers and receipts, sipping boring tea with bags under her eyes brought on by sleepless nights, and she fought against the shudder that ran down her spine.

Unsurprisingly, because Sai-nii had a deep-seated hatred for sitting still in offices and thinking about economy, her brother chose that moment to add to the conversation. _Well, since we don't want that to happen, why don't I teach you the Choujuu Giga technique?_

 _But I don't have chakra-infused ink_ , Sakura pointed out despite her excitement to learn how to make her drawings walk around. Just imagining her papa’s reaction to be able to hold a cat without his allergies acting up was motivation enough.

 _Then we'll_ make _some_ , was her brother’s reply. _Chakra-infused ink is a rare material, often used in high-level sealing techniques. You know the seals on your bedroom window?_ Sakura nodded, though to the outside observer, she was nodding to herself. Her brother continued, _the seals on your window are relatively simple and keeps intruders out. They were made with standard ink. Chakra-infused ink costs a lot for the reason that only a few number of shinobi and kunoichi uses them. But that's not the only reason,_  there was a brief pause, and then her brother said, _go find a needle._

Sakura found a sewing needle attached to a roll of thread and took it. Returning to the table where she left her art supplies, she asked, _what now?_

 _You have a 50 ml bottle of ink_ , her brother began, _now, prick your finger._

She blinked. _What?_

 _You know that chakra is a form of life energy that all living things have to some amount; without it, a person dies_ , Sakura nodded again. It was unavoidable for Saeko-nee and Sai-nii to lecture Sakura on certain technical topics such as chakra; the stories they told Sakura made a mention of chakra countless of times, along with the different types of jutsu. _Similarly, when a person bleeds out, they die. There's a whole correlation lesson on blood and chakra that you'll have to sit through in the academy, so I’ll put this simply: to make chakra-infused ink, you need to drip blood – your life force – into the ink. And then you'll follow my instructions closely. First: prick your finger._

Uncapping the ink bottle, Sakura held the needle to her eye-level. She didn't like the idea of puncturing herself with a sharp needle, but then again, she didn’t like the idea of never being able to perform the technique. With a deep breath, Sakura placed the sharp tip of the needle against the skin of her index finger, and bit her lip when the tip broke the skin.

 _It isn't deep enough_ , her brother said. Complying, Sakura pressed the needle deeper until her brother told her that it was enough. Removing the pointy metal, she eyed the slowly growing red dot on her finger, until the dot became a drop and dripped into the bottle of ink. _Press on it to make it bleed more_ , she obeyed until her brother said two seconds later, _that's enough. Now find a cotton to press against your finger and stop the bleeding._

Once her finger wasn't dripping blood anymore, Sai-nii continued his lecture. _This is the second reason why chakra-infused ink costs so much: the processes of making it are complicated. The simplest way of making it requires blood, different amounts of it depending on the amount of ink. Secondly, it won't work if the blood to ink ratio isn't balanced. A competent shinobi – or someone very good at math – can simply make their own ink, but people generally don't like bleeding themselves out. The more ink one needs, the more blood they have to use._

 _Why not use someone else's blood?_ Like an enemy's blood, or an animal's. Though, Sakura really hated the thought of wounding animals for their blood.

_Then you’d have to tune their chakra to your chakra, which requires precise control and time that most people don't have. Without proper tuning, the effects of the ink are significantly weaker._

_Can I add something?_ Saeko-nee piped up. After receiving Sai-nii and Sakura’s affirmative, she said, _aside from bleeding yourself out – and by the way, I disapprove of this method, it's harmful and you didn't even check if the needle wasn't covered in rust—_

Sai-nii huffed within their shared mind.

 _—another way to make this ink is through directly channeling your chakra to the ink. The downside, however, is that this method takes a lot of time that shinobi do not have – especially if they need this ink in the middle of a sealing, or a battle – along with preparation before the chakra-to-ink ratio becomes sufficient. Furthermore, it requires nearly perfect chakra control, or else the ink would splatter and wouldn't hold together. That level of chakra control is one that I don't think even you can achieve so easily, Sakura-chan, special of not,_  her sister paused, as if contemplating her next words, _but I’ll teach you how to do this because I will_ not _let you bleed yourself out for the sake of art._

There was something pointed in her sister’s statement, something angry and concerned all at the same time. Perhaps wisely, Sakura merely nodded, biting down the comment that she wouldn't be so stupid as to bleed herself out for art.

 _Continuing on,_  her brother said after a moment of prolonged silence, _now you have to draw something._

Confirming that her finger was no longer bleeding, Sakura reached for her brush and carefully dipped it within the homemade – so to speak – chakra-infused ink. She reached for one of the thick blank papers, hovering a hand over it, before reaching for the empty scrolls instead, similar to the ones her brother manifested out of nowhere in her mind. Frustrations with the lack of drawing ideas forgotten, Sakura meticulously began painting a cat. It was a fat cat, with a bushy tail and chubby legs, but it was cute nonetheless. It took her three minutes to draw the cat, which was a new record, considering how long it usually took her to be satisfied with her art when she used brushes and ink without giving in to the impulse of coloring the drawing.

 _You know_ , her brother said as Sakura overlooked her work, _I think you'll never get married in the future and just have a million cats as your children._

 _She's_ four years old _and that's far too young to be mentioning marriage around her._

 _She's_ four years old _and we're making her help us save the world,_  her brother shot back.

 _I can hear the both of you,_  Sakura reminded before they could descend into another fit of exchanging insults with one another. This made her siblings quiet down with a promise to squabble at a later time and that was the best she would ever get from those two. _What's next?_

 _Close your eyes and look for the...flame of sorts, inside your body. That's your chakra_. Sakura did as her sister instructed, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to look for the flickering light that she knew was inside of her. She has never done this before, but Sakura was exceptionally good at following instructions, and with her siblings to instruct her, what could go wrong? It didn't take long; Sakura found the glow her sister was talking about and patiently waited for their next instructions.

_Lift your writing-hand and take your index finger and middle finger together and point vertically._

_Vertically?_

_Pointing upwards_ , Saeko-nee clarified, _now do the seal of..._

Sakura peeked her eyes open to stare at her painting again. The cat stared back at her, inanimate and chubby. Just a little bit more and she would be able to make her drawings move around. Oh, she couldn't wait to show this to Ino! Just six more days before Sakura would get to see her again; she couldn't _wait_. She wondered, distantly, what Ino’s favorite animal was.

 _Focus, Sakura_ , her sister’s amused tone snapped her out of her reverie, making her wince. She had stopped paying attention while her sister was still speaking and that—that was very rude of her. Thankfully, it seemed Saeko-nee was just amused. She suspected that it had something to do with Sakura’s cat-related daydreaming.

 _I forgot you don't know hand seals yet,_  her sister admitted, _no matter. Curl your other fingers together, with your thumb over your ring finger and pinky. Now close your eyes and concentrate on your chakra._

As she did so, she heard the very distant wisp of her brother's voice say, _Ninpou: Choujuu Giga._

* * *

Kizashi was sure his mouth was hanging open. He moved it just to make sure, and yes, his mouth really had been open. The shop was silent, eerily so, and it wasn't due to the slow business day. There was only one customer at present, and Kizashi was vaguely aware of the sharp way his attention zeroed in on Sakura, but in the face of his daughter holding up a _cat made of ink_ in her tiny arms and her mostly incoherent mile-a-minute ramble, Kizashi honestly thought he couldn't be blamed for ignoring him.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, someone broke the silence that ensued with Sakura’s declaration. It was the customer, prompting Kizashi to take another look at the man again. He was chewing on a needle and the bandana on his head blatantly displayed the Konoha symbol engraved on the metal plate. The man, clearly a shinobi, approached Sakura and knelt to her eye level. With a light tone, the man said, “How did you, ah,” he took one look at the ink-cat, very obviously a drawing by the roundish features that Sakura tended to use with her cat drawings, “How did you… bring the cat to life?”

If this was any other day, Kizashi would have laughed at the confused tone. As it was, he was wondering that, too.

Faced with a stranger, Kizashi saw how his daughter stood up straighter, her facial expression adopting the perfunctory politeness she was so fond of using, unless within their home or with Ino, and even then, she sometimes retreated to using it. The little girl who rambled about jutsu and chakra so quickly that even Kizashi couldn't understand was gone immediately. Sakura was silent for a few seconds, and then she blinked. Staring back at the shinobi, she said, “I could show you, if you want.”

The shinobi nodded with a friendly smile.

Kizashi watched as Sakura placed the cat onto the counter and hurried off into the back room, returning a moment later with an empty scroll and a bottle of ink in her hands. Without any mind to proper behaviour in the presence of other people, Sakura sat on the floor, nearly behind the counter, with her legs crossed beneath her and the scroll spread out in front of her. She pulled a brush from her pants’ pocket. Kizashi made a mental note to tell his daughter not to put brushes into pockets. What if the ink stained her clothes? Mebuki would throw a fit.

The shinobi stood straighter, overlooking Sakura from above. Kizashi inched closer to see what she was doing. With immense care, Sakura dipped the brush into the bottle and drew her favorite type of bird: a hummingbird. It took her five minutes at most, and Kizashi had to wonder at the shinobi’s patience with Sakura. He was under the impression that the man had been in a bit of a hurry.

Finally, as she finished the last brush stroke, Sakura set her brush aside and closed her eyes, her hand coming up to her chest and forming one of those hand seals that Kizashi had seen Mebuki do from time to time. With a steady voice, his daughter spoke just as she opened her eyes, “ _Ninpou: Choujuu Giga._ ”

There was a burst of power that even Kizashi _felt_ – and he was a _civilian_ – and he felt his jaw drop again as the ink rose from the scroll and the bird was suddenly flying around, a black-and-white thing that flitted around his shop. Sakura cracked a smile then and held out her small hand, to which the bird landed obediently on her palm. Kizashi heard the shinobi make a noise, one of honest surprise that reflected exactly how Kizashi felt.

_When did she learn to do that?_

“ _Where_ did you learn to do that?” he found himself asking.

To this, Sakura merely smiled, close-eyed, and answered, “I experimented.” in the most casual of tones that Kizashi couldn't help but squint at his little girl. She _experimented?_ _How?_ Where did she see this technique before? Did she just copy the jutsu after seeing it?

Or maybe, amazingly – and terrifyingly – she made the technique on her own? Gods, Sakura was going to end up giving him grey hairs before he was forty.

The shinobi made another noise of surprise. “Wow, kid, you're quite the little prodigy then, aren't you?” After looking intently at the bird on Sakura’s hand and then at the cat still sitting on the counter, the shinobi asked, “What's your name, kid?”

“Haruno Sakura,” she replied, this time looking much more cheerful than before. Kizashi couldn't help but snort at the way the shinobi paused. It was more or less how people reacted when they first witnessed Sakura’s rapid change of moods – and by people, Kizashi lowkey meant himself and Mebuki. “What's yours?”

“Shiranui Genma,” the shinobi replied, with as much cheer and friendliness as Sakura had.

Surprisingly, or perhaps maybe not, the list of surprising events didn't end there. Sakura stuck her hand out further, prompting the ink bird to fly, towards the shinobi and asked, “Do you want to be friends, Genma-san?”

 _Four years old and befriending killers_ , Kizashi thought, closing his eyes for the barest moments before opening them up again. The shinobi was looking at _him_ now, as if asking some unspoken question about Sakura’s sanity. _Grey hairs. Most definitely grey hairs._

“My papa won't mind,” she suddenly added.

When the shinobi genuinely laughed and said, “Sure, kid,” Kizashi wondered if this was the consequence of essentially banning Sakura from seeing her friend for a week.

* * *

Sakura waved goodbye at Genma-san even as he walked away from her papa’s shop, a bag full of satin cloth in his hand. Feeling the distinct pride and cheerfulness coming from her siblings, Sakura mentally updated her Friend Count. After all, no one really explicitly stated that she could only befriend children.

Day three of friend-hunting. Friend Count: 1, and if Sakura counted Ino even though they've been friends before her friend-hunting mission began, 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooo I took forever I know but also  
> Ive figured my shit out w this story  
> And this will be,,, funny w a lot of trauma in the future, so yay, bc neji's bad decisions story will provide most of my angst supply  
> (it's 3-ish am. I will regret this)
> 
> Also abt Sakura pulling off the Choujuu Giga jutsu, that'll be discussed next chp. Don't @ me w my gratuitous self-indulgence.  
> p.p.s.: im gonna regret the shit I wrote about sai's ink, arent I. Someday that liberal use of headcanon is gonna kick me in the face.


	3. TFC: Sunshine Edition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This whole chapter is an awkward friend request.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only 4k after a month, wow, I suck—  
> Sorry though, life happened. I won’t say more than that but basically I think life’s kinda dying down.   
> Also, kinda messing with Sai’s jutsu in this chapter but hey I’m kinda messing with all of canon w this story, so—

A few days later found Sakura sitting crossed-legged underneath the shade of the tree in their backyard. With a look of concentration in her eyes, Sakura placed her hands on both sides of the ink bottle she snatched off her papa’s desk. She focused on the flame within her body, the one she called forth to perform her brother’s jutsu, directing the flow to her palms. She envisioned pinpricks, smaller than needles, piercing through the molecular structure of the bottle and seeping into the ink. Her sister really wasn’t kidding when she said that the process was hard.

All of a sudden, the bottle exploded, and Sakura only barely managed turning to the side to avoid getting ink splattered onto her face. She felt the liquid come in contact with the back of her cheongsam, and though the splatter thankfully spared her pants, it still made her frown. Her mama was going to throw a fit about this, no doubt. It was a gift from some distant relative, after all, to the  _ rightful heiress of the clan _ . 

Well, on second thought, given the slight reprimand directed to her papa in the letter that accompanied this gift, maybe her mama wouldn’t mind her ruining this outfit all that much.

Raising a hand to squeeze the ink soaking the tips of her pink hair, Sakura scowled. That had been her fourth ink bottle in a row, and while her papa seemed to have an endless supply of black ink for his own calligraphy projects and ink paintings, the keyword in that thought was  _ seemed  _ and her papa was bound to find out how many bottles he was missing from his stock. Sakura used up all of her stock, which wasn’t that impressive when compared to her papa’s, but still—it was such a waste of ink, it practically rankled to see it splatter everywhere.

_ Maybe you should take a break _ , Sai-nii suggested at the same time Saeko-nee piped up,  _ maybe you’re going at this the wrong way.  _ The simultaneous onslaught of voices with different messages and different  _ volumes  _ made her wince; this was one of the disadvantages of having mental siblings. Different instructions almost physically hurt her, but strangely enough, the worst their bickering did was distract her from whatever activity she had been doing. She had thought, a while ago, that it would have been the other way around.

To their credit, her siblings seemed appropriately chastised by the thought of disadvantages, and a few blessed moments of silence passed as neither Saeko-nee nor Sai-nii made any move to comment on her next course of action, moments that Sakura greatly treasured. For a moment, Sakura just sat there, fiddling with a piece of the broken bottle. She really had a lot of luck, didn’t she? Especially considering how none of the shards somehow found their way to her skin, providing her with cuts. She could brush off the wasted ink as a tantrum forged by frustration in the middle of a painting, or even that a cat knocked them off, since old lady Ritsu’s cat had a tendency to jump over the neighbors’ fences and destroy their stuff.

While the thought of blaming her failures on a cat made her feel terrible, old lady Ritsu’s cat also nearly clawed her hand off once, so Sakura probably won’t feel  _ too  _ terrible about it. 

Suddenly, Sakura heard a shout coming from the tree-line behind her house, beyond their backyard; the one that extended for what seemed like forever – but only really went on for half an hour when trekked through at a walking pace – only to end with the back of the public market’s buildings.  She stood, squinted at the tree-line, and for a moment, she thought she had honestly imagined the whole thing—but then she heard another shout, tone refined to express utmost panic, and judging by how much louder it was, whoever was shouting was either much closer than she thought or they had really impressive lung capacity. Sakura was betting on the latter.

With one last glance at her house – empty, because mama was at a friend’s house across the street and papa was at work – Sakura nodded to herself. There wouldn’t be any harm in checking what the fuss was all about – or who was causing all the fuss. And besides, someone could be in need of help. Pausing, Sakura reached for the two scrolls at the foot of the tree, the ones filled with paintings of lions—really, really fat lions with big teeth and fluffy manes, made with the chakra-infused ink she had left over, the one she made with her blood. 

_ Do you really think you’re going to need that?  _ Her sister asked,  _ you don’t even know what’s really going on. _

_ That’s true, but I  _ do _ know that those didn’t sound like shouts of delight _ , and Sakura knew what those sounded like; Ino shouted happily more times than she could count. Stuffing both scrolls in both of her pants’ pockets, Sakura experimentally reached for the top of the picket fence surrounding their home. Testing her grip, she tried to pull herself up—

And considering how she lacked the proper upper body strength to pull that off, she failed spectacularly.  _ Going around, then _ , Sakura thought glumly amidst Saeko-nee’s barking laughter.

* * *

The tree-line – well-qualified to be called a small forest, in all honesty – was almost eerie in its sudden silence. Sakura saw no point in trying to sneak through the trees; if anyone really was here, shouting for help or causing distress, it would be better for Sakura if she was mistaken for a lost little girl than be seen with suspicion. Her brother said something along the lines of,  _ almost comical paranoia, those shinobi stories sure are paying off _ , which Sakura didn’t deign to respond to. She was in enemy territory now; she had to be prepared and alert.

_ You’re so dramatic _ , her sister said, still slightly laughing.

Sakura had half a mind to stick her tongue out, but the sound of rustling leaves made her stop short. She turned her head to the source of the sound, but all she saw was a bunch of bushes. Just as she was about to keep moving forward, Sakura heard voices coming from up ahead.

“Where the  _ hell  _ is that little  _ brat _ !” A voice that didn’t sound all that much older than her asked, though it sounded more like a demand than anything else. “What sort of idiot trips on  _ mud _ ?!”

“Hey, don’t act like  _ you  _ didn’t trip, too! And you let that demon brat get away!” A second voice shouted. 

_ That sounds like they’re looking for someone _ , her sister pointed out, no longer laughing. In fact, her sister sounded  _ angry _ , and her anger was infectious to the point that  _ Sakura  _ felt angry. And maybe it wasn’t just her sister’s anger seeping through—those strangers’ tone, combined with her sister’s theory, made it sound like they were looking for someone to  _ hurt them. _

Their tone sounded a whole lot like how Ami spoke about her hair and forehead, Sakura realized—just  _ a lot  _ meaner, promising pain without outright stating so. It made Sakura’s blood boil for some strange reason, in a much greater intensity compared to what she felt before she gave in and smacked Ami with her notepad. She clenched her fists at her side. 

Maybe it’s a good thing she brought her scrolls with her.

Another rustle came from the bushes, snapping Sakura out of her reverie. Turning back, Sakura approached the source of the noise. If it occured just once, Sakura would have brushed it off as some forest creature that undoubtedly lived in Konoha’s woods, one that was simply passing through. But  _ twice _ ? Call her paranoid –  _ you are _ — _ shut up, nii-chan  _ – but twice seemed really unlikely. 

When Sakura saw a head of golden hair and terrified sky-blue eyes the moment she parted through the bushes with her hands, Sakura couldn’t resist telling her brother,  _ ha, I was right. _

Just as the  _ boy  _ opened his mouth, presumably to scream in alarm – judging by his expression, he hadn’t known that Sakura was there in the first place – Sakura hurriedly clamped an ink-covered hand against his mouth, mildly regretting it when the boy spluttered at the awful taste. “Shh,” she whispered, bringing her hand away, “It’s okay, it’s just me.”

“Y-You look like a  _ ghost _ , y’know!” The boy whisper-shouted, sticking his tongue out and spitting at the side. He wiped his tongue against his hand, which,  _ ew _ , “And  _ what was that _ ? And  _ who are you _ ?” 

“You’re being awfully loud for someone who was hiding,” Sakura commented idly, ignoring his questions and noting the sudden silence that seemed to ripple across the forest. Her comment made the boy stop short, and when the fear returned in small specks in his eyes, Sakura asked, “Are you who they’re looking for? The one they called a demon brat?” 

She was going off on a guess, but judging by the fear and  _ bitterness  _ that grew in sky-blue eyes, she hit the mark. A scowl formed on the boy’s face and he pulled away from her, no longer making the effort to keep quiet at all. It almost seemed as if he wanted to be found rather than talk to her, but that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? “So what if I am?! Are you here to just, just—” his eyes widened even further, which was almost comical on his infinitely round face, “Are you just here to bring me to ‘em?! You’re their friend, aren’t ya?!” 

“I don’t even know who ‘they’ are.”

“You don’t—” as if a switch was flipped, the boy visibly deflated, anger making way for curiosity. “Then why are you here talking to me if you’re not, well,  _ y’know _ ?”

Sakura shrugged, her own curiosity piqued as well, “Can’t I just talk to you?”

“W-what, no!” He spluttered, as if the notion of someone talking to him for the heck of it was so  _ foreign.  _

“Why not?” Sakura trudged on unrelentingly, staring at the boy in a way that may be described as unnerving.

“Just ‘cause!”

“Because  _ what _ ?”

“Because  _ nobody does _ !” the boy said, throwing his hands up in what seemed like total frustration. 

Before Sakura could point out all the things wrong with that statement, the voice she heard from earlier piped up. “Found you now, demon brat!” Given a clear view of the speaker, Sakura saw that it was a boy that seemed a few years older than her and the blonde boy who’s sitting in the bushes. A few footsteps later, there was another boy that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Both of them had uninteresting brown hair and mud splattered on their clothes and faces, making their earlier shouted conversation seem a whole lot funnier. 

Funnier, sure, but Sakura wasn’t laughing. In her head, Saeko-nee had grown silent, and her brother seemed to radiate  _ annoyance _ towards the two newcomers, even though he wasn’t saying anything at all. Combined, the both of them seemed to ask,  _ how dare they? _

“Who is this?” One of the boys, the taller of the two, asked as he cast a derisive sneer towards Sakura. His eyes visibly roamed over her form, and whatever he saw made him press his lips thinly, his nose scrunching up with disgust. “Are you hiding behind a girl now, demon brat?”

“So what if I am?” The blonde boy asked defensively at the same time Sakura seethed, “Don’t call him a demon; that’s not very  _ nice _ .”

Her statement seemed to strike a chord within the blonde, and though Sakura wasn’t looking at him anymore, she knew that  _ he  _ was watching her. If the sharp intake of air had been any indication, the boy wasn’t expecting her – or  _ anyone  _ for that matter – to stand up for him. The thought that  _ no one  _ has ever stood up for him crossed Sakura’s mind, filling her with a burning rage that she’s never known before. It’s not like the feeling she got when she didn’t get what she wanted, or back then at the park with Ami and her gaggle of twittering idiots—this was worse,  _ so much worse.  _ It was exhilarating as much as it was terrifying. 

She hasn’t ever felt this angry for anyone else’s sake before. Not even for Ino, though that might be because no one seemed to want to mess with Ino.

“Look at her,” the shorter brown-haired boy said in a mock-whisper – as in, Sakura could hear him just fine – to his friend, “Pink hair with black tips? What a weirdo.”

“Looks like she went swimming in  _ tar _ ,” the taller one sneered, “A perfect weirdo friend for a demon brat, then.” 

“Girlie, we gotta be honest, we don’t want to get you tangled up in this,” the shorter boy said, kneeling down to her height. Though his voice had gone deceptively soft, there was a mocking glint in his dark black eyes. It made Sakura want to rip his face off. “Just step away from the bush, and let us get to the demon brat.” 

“He’s not even running away,” the other boy urged, growing impatient by the minute. “Just  _ push her aside _ .”

Sakura glared at the other boy over his friend’s shoulder, but she stepped away just like the shorter boy said. It earned her a pat on her hair, one that she scowled at, and she resolutely didn’t look towards the blonde boy still crouching in the bushes, didn’t look at the betrayed expression that might be plastered on his face.

Instead, Sakura pulled out the scroll from her left pocket, unraveled it in one swift motion, and raised her right hand to her chest. “ _ Ninpou: Choujuu Giga _ ,” she murmured, and the motion caught both older boys’ attention. Sakura took utmost delight in the way their eyes widened once her drawings moved  _ up  _ and  _ out  _ of their scrolls. She lifted her free arm, pointing it towards both boys, and her four ink-lions  _ lunged  _ without Sakura even uttering a single word.

“From now on, you leave him alone, you hear me?” She crossed her arms across her chest, watching with barely concealed glee as the boy shuddered, a lion snapping at his heels as he snapped out of his stupor.

The way they screamed, high pitched shrieks that rivaled Ino’s, as they were chased by ink-based creatures throughout the woods would stay with Sakura forever.

* * *

 

“Hey, are you okay?” The strange girl asked him, but he was looking at the path were his pursuers had run off with strange fluffy animals with  _ really big teeth  _ running after them. Naruto felt a slight touch on his arm, making him jerk back to reality, and he found himself face-to-face with the girl who essentially saved him. She had black stuff –  _ ink _ , his mind supplied – tinting the tips of her hair and her dress was green mottled with black. She was  _ weird _ , no doubt—

But she helped him. She  _ saved  _ him, even though he didn’t ask her to.

Before Naruto even registered it, he had wrapped his arms around her shoulders, knocking the both of them off their feet. “You were so  _ cool _ , y’know!” he all but squealed, stamping on the parts of his mind that said  _ she might not really like you _ and  _ she did it out of pity _ . No one just does that out of pity; not even Jiji’s zoo people stepped in when kids tried to catch him as if he was some unruly pet and make fun of him, and Naruto knew that at least one of Jiji’s zoo people felt bad for him. That lady with the beaver mask and purple hair always said, “Poor kid,” when she thought he wasn’t listening, after all.

When Naruto pulled away and stood up, he offered her his hand, and he was more than surprised to see the strange girl smiling at him, and though it seemed kinda awkward in his opinion – like she wasn’t used to smiling – Naruto thought it made her look pretty. “Thanks,” the girl said, her voice sounding genuinely pleased as she  _ actually reached for his hand _ . Still a little dazed, Naruto pulled her up, and the girl gave him a funny look before saying, “Why were they chasing you?”

With the reminder of what led to him running into the woods, Naruto scowled, “Stupid Ayano told ‘em that I was the one who took their books, even though I  _ didn’t  _ and he did it himself, he just wanted to blame me because he’s a  _ massive jerk _ , y’know—and they didn’t believe me when I told ‘em.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto huffed, “What would I do with their stupid books, anyway? It’s not like I can  _ read  _ ‘em, y’know.”

“That sucks,” the girl told him bluntly, but then her eyes – so  _ green _ , like tree leaves – widened, her mouth falling open slightly. Naruto worried he broke her for a while –  _ or she realized that he really was the demon brat that her parents probably told her about  _ – but then the girl shouted, the loudest that he’s heard her before, “You don’t know how to  _ read  _ yet?!” Her eyes turned steely, her lips thinning, but all Naruto could think was how  _ that’s  _ what she was focusing on.

There were no hurled insults, no mean glares. Instead, the girl grabbed his wrist and started  _ dragging  _ him somewhere.

“W-where are we going?!” Naruto spluttered, trying to wrench out of her grasp, but  _ hell  _ if she didn’t have a strong grip. 

“To my house,” she replied shortly, “I’m teaching you how to read.”

“What? But what does that matter?! I don’t even know you, so why do you care?!”

And really,  _ why  _ did she care? They’ve met, like,  _ once  _ and sure she saved him using her cool fluffy animal things – how did she do that, by the way? – but Naruto couldn’t see how that extended to teaching him how to  _ read _ , of all things. No one cared that much, except maybe for Jiji. 

What he said made the strange girl stop, let go of him, and turn around. Naruto stared at her warily, waiting for the inevitable shove or hurtful comment or– or simply  _ something _ . But she just tilted her head, and then she struck her hand out. Naruto’s gaze wavered from her face to her hand. 

“My name’s Sakura,” the girl said, an odd note to her voice, like she’s not so sure about her own  _ name _ . But that’s stupid. “What’s your name?” She asked. 

“I’m Naruto,” he said, blinking and still watching her hand. When she didn’t make any move to retract the outstretched limb, he slowly lifted his own hand, grasping the girl’s –  _ Sakura’s  _ – ink-tinted hand. He gasped, just a bit, as her hand  _ gently _ closed around his. 

And then she shot him a sunny smile, “This makes us friends now, doesn’t it?” 

_ Friends _ . “What?” No one has ever wanted to be friends with him before, especially not cool girls with super cool jutsu. Naruto realized, then and there, that he  _ wants  _ to be her friend, he really  _ does— _ but no one just calls him a friend. No one ever  _ wants  _ to be his friend, and it’s just—Naruto can’t possibly be blamed for being  _ suspicious. _

Her smile faltered, her hold loosening, although she didn’t pull away. Sakura stayed quiet for a while, and it felt like hours before she spoke again, and when she did, there was a bit of a questioning tone in her words. “I heard that once physical contact and an exchange of names are established in a non-violent manner, that signifies the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” she said, sounding a whole lot like she was quoting something. She tilted her head to the side, pink strands falling into her eyes, “Haven’t we established that? Doesn’t that make us friends?” 

“Well,” he looked at their still intertwined hands, “I guess? Is that why you care so much? Because you think we’re friends?” 

“Can’t I just care?” She shot back. “Haven’t you ever had anyone to care just ‘cause they do?” 

“Only jiji,” he admitted, thinking about it, and he just knew his face was red with how  _ warm  _ it felt. Here he was, face to face with a girl he hasn’t met before, one that called him her  _ friend _ . 

“Well, now you have me, too,” the girl chirped, cheerfully so, smile sliding back in place. Still smiling, she added, “If you’ll have me as your friend, that is.”

It was practically all his dreams and wishes come true, to have  _ someone else  _ ask to be friends with him, and—he’s already hugged her, hasn’t he? And she saved him. She  _ saved  _ him, and if Naruto’s smile wobbled for even the slightest moments as he hugged her for the second time that day, no one said a word about it.

* * *

 

“You live here?” Naruto asked behind her, staring up at her house with something like trepidation. Sakura nodded, but when she made a move to go around the gates and enter through the front door, Naruto didn’t follow. She gave him a curious look, one that he caught, and he looked down in response, mumbling underneath his breath, “I don’t think this is a good idea, Sakura-chan.”

“Why not?” Her parents would probably like to see her bringing a friend home for the first time ever. Not even Ino’s gotten the chance to visit her house, though Sakura made a mental note to invite her over sometime. Friends share each other’s stuff, don’t they? And Ino shares her flowers on a daily basis; maybe Sakura should show Ino more of her drawings. 

“People don’t like me,” Naruto stated bluntly, still unmoving. Sakura was about to say something about how that wasn’t true, he probably hasn’t met many people before, but her siblings sent a unified warning that a comment like that wasn’t something that would be appreciated. Maybe he saw the way Sakura opened her mouth without saying anything, because Naruto offered, “You heard what they called me, didn’t ya? Demon brat, they said.”

“But I don’t think you’re a demon brat,” Sakura replied, frowning, but Naruto only seemed to curl within himself without moving his body outright. It was enough to discourage Sakura; she didn’t want to make her newest friend nervous in just an hour of establishing their friendship. Maybe those reading lessons will have to wait.

_ Making friends is hard _ , she told her siblings, to which she got dazed agreements in return. Huh, strange.

“Well, okay, if you don’t want to go home with me, do you want to play instead?” She asked. That was a way to strengthen friendships, after all. Her brother said so, and she’s seen it happen between her and Ino, and despite her sister’s laughter and comments about emotional ineptitude, Sakura found that his tips were helpful. 

Speaking of which, she was free to go to the park tomorrow. Maybe she could introduce Ino to Naruto, and they’d all be friends. Then Ino and Naruto could be, like, a sunshine duo or something. They both had blonde hair and puppy-like demeanor in common, so that made sense.

“Sure!” Naruto cheered, and the smile that graced his face almost made it look like he was  _ glowing. _ “What game will we be playing?” He asked eagerly, almost bouncing on his heels. Gone was the boy who almost seemed adamant to not befriend her unless he made sure that she had no ulterior motives, and here was a  _ puppy _ . A very cute puppy. 

Sakura thought about it for a while. She and Ino usually played house, and also hide and seek. But if she suggested that, they’d probably end up running around in the woods again, and Sakura wasn’t quite keen on going back in. The sun was setting; what if they got lost? It certainly wouldn’t be hard to get lost. 

Again, Naruto seemed to bounce in place, and Sakura had the brightest idea. “Tag,” Naruto certainly seemed to have the energy for it—and, if the way his smile grew even wider, it seemed like he thought that game was  _ great. _

* * *

 

And it  _ was _ great, both as a game and as a way to get to know each other better, because at some point, their game of tag somehow got a bit of twenty questions mixed in. It had been Naruto who started it with a question about what happened to her hair, and it only spiraled out from there.

“What’s your favorite food?” Sakura asked once she patted Naruto on the back firmly, signifying that she caught him. She dodged the swipe he made at her head, and though she ended up tumbling onto the grass, Sakura found herself smiling.

“Ramen,” Naruto answered, taking a leap towards her. He missed by a long shot, nearly smacking his face into a tree, but thankfully he had enough sense to throw an arm out to prevent that tragedy from happening. Sakura couldn’t hold back a snort of amusement, to which she received a completely insincere glare in response.

“Who taught you your jutsu? Was that a jutsu?” Naruto asked when he caught the back of her clothes in a hold. He dropped her immediately, now knowing just how quick she can take a swipe towards him. She’s  _ fun _ , Naruto realized. 

“That’s two questions!” Sakura protested initially, although she did answer his questions regardless of the amount. “I just figured it out, and of course it was, what else would it be?”

Her answer made him stop short, and it was all Sakura needed to plant her palm onto Naruto’s round face. Not expecting to catch him at all, and with Naruto not expecting to be caught mere seconds after he just caught Sakura, she ended up putting too much force into her hand and Naruto had been too light on his feet. They stumbled, both of them, into the grass beyond the picket fence of Sakura’s house, and though they laid there in a daze for a long while, both children ended up laughing into the open air.

“Let’s play again tomorrow, maybe after lunchtime,” Sakura suggested, once the sun had dipped the world in orange hues and it was time for Naruto to leave. “We could meet in the park and we’ll play games of our own, and maybe I can introduce you to Ino.”

It was either that Naruto genuinely didn’t hear what she said about Ino, or he didn’t want to acknowledge the thought of another person, but in any case, he didn’t make any comment regarding Ino. But Naruto  _ did  _ give her a smile, and although it looked uncertain, he said, “Sure, Sakura-chan, I’d love that, y’know!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah no sakura there are consequences to your actions, you oughta know that by now  
> To be fair, this was supposed to be longer, but then?? The rest of the chapter just didn’t fit so I cut it.


End file.
